We reside during a remarkable time, an age when humanity is about to cross a threshold. We are about to leave the nest and meet alien life. This blog is dedicated to the science of astrobiology: understanding space, the field of our search; exploring the one example we have of life and its abode, our Earth; reaching for the stars; imagining what extraterrestrial life may be like; and encouraging science education. Please join me for daily updates on the ultimate human adventure.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Strange though it may seem, Goldilocks tasting the three bears porridge is a good analogy to idea of there being a “habitable zone” within our solar system, and others. A habitable zone is the region around a star in which liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, liquid water being one of the necessary ingredients for life. Stars of different luminosities (brightness) have differently sized habitable zones. For example, a dim star would have a habitable zone that was much closer to it than a bright star. See article.gCosmicus - How do spacesuits work? Here’s a good primer.gLearning - Here’s a neat classroom activity courtesy of NASA: Who Can Live Here? Students explore the limits of life on Earth to extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds. See article.gAftermath - Will we ever find a primer for decoding messages from extraterrestrials? Late last year, anthropologists who gathered for a major conference in Atlanta heard some news that will be sobering for SETI enthusiasts: It may be much more difficult to understand extraterrestrials than many scientists have thought before. See article.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes What is a "habitable zone"? See article.gLife - The greenery on other planets may not be green. Astrobiologists say plants on Earth-sized planets orbiting stars somewhat brighter than the Sun may look yellow or orange, while those on planets orbiting stars much fainter than the Sun might look black. See article.gIntelligence - Subtle wobbles in Earth's cosmic motions over thousands and millions of years may have influenced the long-term evolution of human beings and their ancestors. See article. Note: This article is from late 2004.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “If we at once admit the foolishness of these perennially suggested "impediments" to star flight, we will be on our way to understanding that interstellar space does not need a bridge too far. Interstellar travel may still be in its infancy, but adulthood is fast approaching, and our descendants will someday see childhood's end.” — Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matloff, “The Starflight Handbook”gLearning - Here’s a list of places where one can study astrobiology for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - A solar telescope has been successfully launched to 120,000 feet using a balloon larger than a Boeing 747. The technology will be used in 2009 to launch polar balloon flights that will view details of the Sun's surface and collect data concerning the Sun's influence on the climate of Earth. See article.gAbodes - A comet usually too faint to be seen with the naked eye has brightened by a factor of a million since Tuesday, suggesting its surface may have cracked open and expelled clouds of dust and gas. Astronomers are scrambling to observe the strange object, which is likely to fade in the coming days and weeks. See article.gLife - Astrobiologist Cindy Van Dover is the subject of an interview in a recent New York Times science section. The article discusses her career in marine ecology, and her pioneering role in exploring the ocean with the submersible Alvin. See article.gIntelligence - When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests. See article.gMessage - In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake wrote the equation that put the search for alien civilizations on a scientific footing and launched the modern SETI movement. How do the numbers look today? See article. Note: This article is from 2002. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won.” — John F. KennedygLearning - When Jane Thipphavong told a group of third- and fourth-graders that she used to play with Legos when she was their age the classroom made an audible roar, as the group could relate. Thipphavong, who actually has a Lego collection now, was one of five Ames employees who participated in career day for Pearl City Elementary School, a 2006 NASA Explorer School located in Hawaii. The event was made possible by Ames Digital Learning Network, which telecast the event to Hawaii so students could ask questions to Ames employees in real time. See article.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - By mapping convection cells in Earth's magnetic field for the first time, scientists have shown that the behavior of the cells is linked to solar activity. The activity of our Sun has profound implications for the habitability of Earth, and studying this connection can help us understand the conditions for habitability beyond our Solar System. See article.gAbodes - Discovering new planets that orbit distant stars has become commonplace. But now a team of astronomers has managed to predict the orbit of an extrasolar planet - before anyone knew for certain that it existed. The last time that happened was more than 150 years ago. See article.gLife - Book alert: “Astrobiology: Origins from the Big-bang to Civilisation”, by Julián Chela Flores, Guillermo A. Lemarchand and John Oró, concerns the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe. It discusses the transition from inert matter to cellular life and its evolution to fully developed intelligent lifeforms on Earth. Click here for a peak inside the book (and for order information).gMessage - A technique used to discover the small rocky world that was announced last year also could be used to detect a transmitter with the power of your local TV station at a distance of a hundred light-years, even if the alien broadcasters weren’t beaming our way. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.gCosmicus - Scientists need to better communicate space exploration's benefits, an astronomer says. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.gLearning - Are you a future SETI scientist? See article. Note: This article is from Feb. 2001.

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - A mysterious white substance churned out of the Martian dust by the wheels of the Spirit rover is the first "on-the-spot" evidence of water beneath the surface of the Red Planet, researchers at a Canadian university say. See article.gIntelligence - Can Darwinism explain the birth and extinction of art movements, or the enduring appeal of Jane Austen? See article. Note: This article is from 2006.gMessage - A recent study suggests it is more energy efficient to communicate across interstellar space by sending physical material — a sort of message in a bottle — than beams of electromagnetic radiation. Solid matter can hold more information and journey farther than radio waves, which disperse as they travel. See article.gCosmicus - "All the Universe is full of the life of perfect creatures." - Konstantin TsiolkovskygLearning - Here’s a neat classroom activity courtesy of DiscoverSchool.com: “Extraterrestrials.” In the activity, a digital radio message, intended to alert any intelligent life in space to the existence of intelligent life on Earth, has been electronically transmitted into space by the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico. Students must ensure the message is effective by showing that the senders (humans from Earth) are capable of advanced thinking — but it must not depend on the ability of extraterrestrials to understand any Earth language. See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Murray Leinster’s novel “The Greks Bring Gifts,” published by MacFadden in 1964.gAftermath - A detection of extraterrestrial intelligence will profoundly effect all inhabitants of our planet. The scientific community has realized that the keys to ensure a beneficial and rewarding encounter is education and preparation, and these two characteristics apply to many facets of a detection. See article.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - New data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft provides conclusive evidence that jets of icy particles spraying from Enceladus originate from hot spots on fractures that straddle the moon's south polar region. Enceladus caused a stir in 2005 when the jets were first found and scientists thought they might indicate liquid water beneath the moon's surface. See article.gIntelligence - Researchers at UCLA found that cells in the human anterior cingulate, which normally fire when you poke the patient with a needle ("pain neurons"), will also fire when the patient watches another patient being poked. The mirror neurons, it would seem, dissolve the barrier between self and others. See article.gMessage - How can we be sure scientists listening to noise from space have picked up intelligence, and not just the cosmic gurgle of a completely natural object? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “Humankind might consider it not impossible that we should go into the galaxy with the intention of becoming its consciousness.” — Brian AldissgLearning - Theorizing and model building are one thing; it is another to go out and get data that will support science and the acquisition of new knowledge. For this purpose, NASA has instituted its Astrobiology Program to study the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe. Existing programs and new endeavors will be brought together in a multidisciplinary fashion to tackle the questions surrounding life's place in the organization of the universe. In so doing, NASA has adopted six canonical questions to use as guideposts as its programs are developed. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.gImagining - Here’s the indispensable book on science fiction aliens: “Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature.” Having been out a few years now, it may not be on your local bookstore’s shelves. For a peek inside the book (and ordering information), see article.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Unlike the other small bodies in the solar system, comets have been known since antiquity. What can comets tell us about the origin of our solar system? See article.gLife - Book alert: Astrobiology - the study of the intimate relationship between life and the cosmos - is a fast-growing field that touches on aspects of cosmology, astrophysics, and chemistry. In the first scholarly overview of this dynamic field, “Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction,” biochemists Kevin W. Plaxco and Michael Gross tell the story of life from the Big Bang to the present. Emphasizing the biochemical nature of astrobiology, Plaxco and Gross examine the origin of the chemical elements, the events behind the developments that made the Universe habitable, and the ongoing sustenance of life. They discuss the formation of the first galaxies and stars, the diverse chemistry of the primordial planet, the origins of metabolism, the evolution of complex organisms, and the feedback regulation of Earth's climate. They also explore life in extreme habitats, potential extraterrestrial habitats, and the search for extraterrestrial life. See reviews.gIntelligence - It is clear that most of what we think of as our mental life involves the activities of the nervous system, especially the brain. This nervous system is composed of billions of cells, the most essential being the nerve cells or neurons. There are estimated to be as many as 100 billion neurons in our nervous system. See article.gMessage - The universe is a noisy place, filled with the hiss and crackle of stars being born and dying. There is little escape from this cosmic din, except in one small region of the radio dial — the microwave band. Here, only the faint whimper of the Big Bang breaks the silence, making it a “really good place to communicate,” according to Dan Werthimer of Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, perched close to the stars atop Grizzly Peak. See article. Note: This article is from 2000.gCosmicus - The proliferation of garbage in low Earth orbit has reached a point where it will increase in the coming decades even if all rocket launches were canceled starting now, according to research by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. See article.gLearning - As Shakespeare would say where there is a will there is a way and Mary Beth Wilhelm, a senior at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., has the will. At the age of ten, when many girls are still playing with toys, Wilhelm pleaded for her parents to buy her a telescope. She had gone to space camp at Ames and that fed her hunger for knowledge on astronomy. At first, her parents thought that the telescope request was a childish whim and she would shortly move on to her next dream for her future. But, that isn't what happened. See article.gImagining - Psychologist Frederick Malmstrom believes that “visions” of space aliens are actually the image of the prototypical female face that is hardwired into every baby human's brain. When Malmstrom altered a picture of a woman in a way consistent with the characteristics of a newborn's vision (astigmatism and a shallow focal plane), the result looked very much like a big-eyed alien. See article.gAftermath - For some provocative reading, pick up “Sharing the Universe,” by Seth Shostak, at your local bookstore. SETI scientist Shostak almost single-handedly is outlining social and political issues that will arise once we make contact with extraterrestrials. See reviews.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Using Earth-based telescopes, researchers have determined the composition of a near-Earth asteroid that will pass close to the Earth in the future. The research is a test case for studying Earth-bound asteroids that may pose a threat to life's future on our planet. See article.gLife - Scientists have discovered the early origin of genes for vision in animals. See article.gIntelligence - The brain is a collection of about 10 billion interconnected neurons. Each neuron is a cell that uses biochemical reactions to receive, process and transmit information. See article.gMessage - How scientifically accurate was the ultimate astrobiology film, “Contact”? See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: "For all our feelings of self importance, we are only a kind of biological rust, clinging to the surface of our small planet, and weighing far less than the air that surrounds us.” – Carl SagangLearning - Here’s a neat new book for kids (ages 10-up): “Astrobiology”, by Fred Bortz.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Carol Car and Karen Haber’s short story "First Contact, Sort of" appearing in the anthology “The Ultimate Alien” (edited by Keith R. A. DeCandido, John Betancourt and Byron Preiss; published by Dell in 1995).gAftermath - Book alert: The authentic discovery of extraterrestrial life would usher in a scientific revolution on par with Copernicus or Darwin, writes Paul Davies in “Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life.” Just as these ideas sparked religious and philosophical controversy when they were first offered, so would proof of life arising away from Earth. With this brief book (160 pages, including two appendices and an index), Davies tries to get ahead of the curve and begin to sort out the metaphysical mess before it happens. Many science fiction writers have preceded him, of course, but here the matter is plainly put. This is a very good introduction to a compelling subject. See article.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - While humans eventually may be able to colonize any star system by building space habitats, many people today prefer to dream about visiting an Earth-type planet or to communicate with intelligent Earth-type lifeforms. Currently, our only guide to what type of star is likely to host an Earth-type planet suitable for human habitation without special environmental protection is our own Sun, Sol. A look at the map of nearby stars, however, quickly reveals that Sol is not like most stars in the Solar neighborhood. See article.gAbodes - Newly assembled radar images provide the best view yet of hydrocarbon lakes and seas at Titan's north pole. Other images reveal lakes at the moon's south pole. Scientists are hoping that by studying Titan's unique environment they will gain insights into processes on the early Earth. See article.gLife - Thirty years ago this month, researchers identified the unique domain of life known as archaea. These organisms inhabit some of the harshest environments on Earth, and astrobiologists study many of them as analogs for how life might survive on other planets. See article.gIntelligence - How do neurons work? See article.gMessage - What are the chances that an alien signal has been sent our way just at the right moment to splash upon our antennas during that brief interval? If the extraterrestrials beam their broadcasts to the whole galaxy (or at least a big chunk of it), the chances are 100 percent. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “Heading, sir?” “Out there ... thataway.” — Sulu and Kirk, “Star Trek – The Motion Picture”gImagining - Book alert: What would life on other planets look like? Forget the little green men, alien life is likely to be completely unrecognizable - we haven’t even discovered all the life on our own planet. The visionary “Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life", by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart, offers some of the most radical but scientifically accurate thinking on the possibility of life on other planets ever conceived. Using broad principles of Earthly biology and expanding on them laterally, Cohen and Stewart examine what could be out there. Redefining our whole concept of what ‘life’ is, they ask whether aliens could live on the surface of a star, in the vacuum of space or beneath the ice of a frozen moon. And whether life could exist without carbon or DNA – or even without matter at all. They also look at ‘celebrity aliens’ from books and films – most of which are biologically impossible. Jack Cohen is an ‘alien consultant’ to many writers, advising what an alien could and couldn’t look like. (E.T. go home – you do not pass the test). But this book is as much about the latest discoveries in Earthly biology as well as life on other planets. It’s a serious yet entertaining science book.gAftermath - Could humanity ever relate to an alien species? Consider the questioning context of these online speculations about why "Star Trek is human centered?" The latter is an interesting question, possibly creating a situation dealing with a prejudice on the behalf of the writers and producers. However, would a series completely dedicated to another species, such as the Romulans, be successful in a television market? Is it possible that the reasons it wouldn’t be might indicate humanity may care little about an alien species other than as a potential threat? See article.

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - Our Milky Way Galaxy is unusual in that it is one of the most massive galaxies in the nearby universe. Our solar system also seems to have qualities that make it rather unique. These qualities make the Sun one of the few stars in the galaxy capable of supporting complex life. See article.gAbodes - It is only a matter of time before astronomers find an Earth-sized planet orbiting a distant star. When they do, the first questions people will ask are: Is it habitable? And even more importantly, is there life present on it already? For clues to the answers, scientists are looking to their home planet, Earth. See article.gLife - It may be a mistake to try to define life, given such definitions are based on a single example -- life on Earth. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.gIntelligence - Intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide that plays a key role in social attachment and affiliation in non-human mammals, causes a substantial increase in trust among humans. See article.gMessage - Book alert: Scour your used bookstore shelves for "Life Beyond Earth," by Timothy Ferris. Rock-solid science writer Ferris has covered this ground before. In the two-hour PBS documentary that he wrote and narrated - which shares the title, text, and many of the images of this generously illustrated book - Ferris tackles two age-old questions about the potentially universal nature of life: Are we alone, and, if not, is anybody listening? See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “(We are) riders on the Earth together.” — Archibald MacLeishgLearning - Evolution is fundamental to modern biology, geology and astronomy. Ignoring or discarding fundamental scientific understandings of the natural world does not prepare our children well for the future. As America strives to "leave no child behind," it’s time that evolution is not left behind in our science classrooms. See article.gImagining - Could the Kaylar, a Star Trek alien from “The Original Series’ pilot episode, “The Cage,” exist? Like the Gorn, this alien appears to be drawn from our nightmares and hence serves a more dramatic effect than offering any speculation on exobiology. A tall humanoid with intriguing jaw features, skinny legs and broad shoulders, the Kaylar on Rigel VII is reminiscent of a barbarian warrior or an ogre. Brushing aside the nearly impossible parallel evolution between Earth and the Kaylar’s home world for such a creature to come about, there are a couple of possible ways that it could have gained its great height and skinny legs. Its planet might have lighter gravity, which means an indigent alien wouldn’t fall as hard as we do on Earth; hence the supporting legs would not need to be as strong to hold up a little more weight than the typical human. In addition, we might speculate that as a humanoid, the Kaylar shared a similar primate evolution as humans, so possibly the savannah grass of its continental cradle simply was taller than on the African plain during the past few million years; that would have given taller proto-Kaylar an evolutionary advantage. Still, the Kaylar appears to be an unlikely alien.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Mapping what gases comprised Earth’s atmosphere during its history, two scientists propose that by looking for similar atmospheric compositions on other worlds, scientists will be able to determine if that planet has life on it, and if so, that life’s evolutionary stage. See article.gLife - By creating an alternative life chemistry in the lab, astrobiologist Steven Benner hopes to uncover a formula for alien microbes. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.gIntelligence - Neuroeconomics merges methods from neuroscience and economics to better understand how the human brain generates decisions in economic and social contexts. Neuroeconomics is part of the general quest for microfoundations – in this case, the microfoundation of individual decision-making in social contexts. The economic model of individual decision-making is based on three concepts – the action set, preferences, and beliefs. Economists assume that an individual will choose his preferred action for a given set of available actions and a given belief about the states of the world and the other players' actions. Neuroeconomics provides a microfoundation for individual beliefs, preferences, and behavior; it does so by examining the brain processes associated with the formation of beliefs, the perception of the action set, and the actual choice. See article. Note: This article is from 2005.gMessage - How do we search for life in the universe? From sending probes to the planets to discovering new worlds, find out how we are looking for alien life. See article.gCosmicus - A new tether system may help astronauts walk on the surface of asteroids. The technology would help them safely perform experiments to determine the role of comets and asteroids in the origin of life. See article.gLearning - The field of astronomy and space science must be the most fascinating job in the universe, but it does require some outstanding abilities - above average intelligence, keen analytical ability and good programming skills. Perhaps the most essential ingredient, however, is curiosity, a scientific bent of mind and the ability to search out answers. See article.gImagining - From historical myths and legends to fanciful science-fiction tales of little green men and the uncertain possibility of life beyond our planet, Aliens have been a pop-culture phenomenon for centuries now, being portrayed as both harmless curious visitors to threatening monsters with aspirations to take over our planet. See article.gAftermath - If we establish communication with a civilization even as close as 100 light years from Earth, the round-trip time for a message and its reply is 200 years. What will be the psychology of a civilization that can engage in a meaningful conversation with this sort of delay? How is such a conversation to be established? What should the content of such a conversation be? See article.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Just about every planet in the solar system that might harbor life has an analog on Earth — and that's the first place scientists thought to look. See article.gLife - Could alien life exist in the form of dancing specks of dust? According to a new simulation, electrically charged dust can organise itself into DNA-like double helixes that behave in many ways like living organisms, reproducing and passing on information to one another. See article.gIntelligence - Functional MRI scans have revealed a "biologically embedded" basis for altruistic behavior, with several characteristic regions of the brain being activated when players of a game called "Prisoner's Dilemma" decide to trust each other and cooperate, rather than betray each other for immediate gain, say researchers. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.gCosmicus - What do you do when you’re afraid a volcano might be about to explode and you need to descend into the searing heat of its caldera to take a few geologic samples? You send a robot. See article.gLearning - Here’s something neat: a series of educational pages that focus on terrestrial impact cratering and its environmental and biotic effects.gImagining - Are intelligent aliens trying to contact us? Are UFOs and crop circles signs of alien contact or just human pranks? Read the evidence for yourself and then cast your vote. See article.gAftermath - Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign - one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Astronomers may be on the brink of discovering a second Earth-like planet, a find that would add fresh impetus to the search for extraterrestrial life, according to a leading science journal. See article.gLife - As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis's laboratory in southern India may hold, well, aliens. See article.gIntelligence - It is now 40 years since Brandon Carter began thinking about how the preconditions necessary for human existence might bias the view we have of the universe. Carter showed that fairly simple changes to the laws of the physics yield universes that are too simple to allow the emergence of life. For example, you can't even alter the number of spatial dimensions since planetary orbits are only stable in three dimensions. Our Universe seems to exhibit quite a few examples of such fine-tuning and many of these are discussed in Paul Davies’s book. One way to explain these coincidences is to propose that there are many "Universes" and that, naturally, we find ourselves living in one of the, presumably very rare, Universes that just happens to be life-friendly. This idea is called cosmological anthropic selection. Read more.gMessage - If extraterrestrial life and intelligence exist, and if these ETI have ever engaged in, or presently are engaging in, interstellar exploration or communication, this most likely will involve the transmission of material artifacts. Some evidence of this activity may be apparent from within the confines of the solar system and thus could be detected by a suitable observational effort. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: "Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring - not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive." — Carl SagangLearning - Here’s something fun for the kids: An “Alien Life” word find. It’s based on the Science for Kids article. Could alien life exist in the form of dancing specks of dust?gImagining - Science fiction authors produce a lot of very strange critters. In the desperate dash to be different, many go way overboard to invent fantastic, outlandish species unlike anything anyone has ever seen. It’s an admirable expression of their artistic abilities, but there’s an inherent problem: They almost always lose the reader along the way. Sure, it sounds ultra-cool to have a whole herd of 80-foot quasi-limbed orb-stasis beings, but unless you draw me a picture of these things, the reader often has no idea what you’re talking about. However, if you write that your alien has four wings, 10 eyes and looks a little like a kangaroo, the reader is right there with you. Most readers need at least something familiar to draw on for their imagination, or they get lost. See article.gAftermath - At some point we may discover intelligent alien life. Upon finding clear evidence that intelligent life exists and that we could conceivably communicate with them on their planet, what should we do and what would we do? See article.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - A newly published review outlines the prospects of finding Earth-like, habitable planets around distant stars using current planet-hunting techniques. See article.gLife - What could life on other planets be like? Here’s a Web page that looks at the extremities of similarity and difference, from biochemical make-up to major substantial and macrostructural differences.gIntelligence - What do modern explorations reveal about alien life and the role that humans play in the story of the cosmos? Join an internationally recognized planetary scientist for a lively discussion of recent findings in astrobiology. Find out what this research tells us about life in the universe, as well as our own biases and assumptions around our place in it! See article. Note: This piece is from 2005.gMessage - Here’s a neat Web site: “Interstellar Messaging.” You’ll find discussion, history and real-world examples of mankind's methods and ongoing attempts to communicate with extraterrestrials. See article.gCosmicus - A new robot is demonstrating technologies that may one day help make human lunar outposts possible. A field experiment at the end of the year will test the robot's ability to maneuver and drill in complete darkness. See article.gLearning - Over 2,000 years ago, the Roman philosopher Lucretius speculated about life on other worlds. American astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916) believed that Mars was inhabited by intelligent beings, who were building canals to save their dying world, and he wrote the imaginative book “Mars: As The Abode of Life” (1908). Today, the search for alien life is a real scientific endeavor with diverse research areas. Here’s a fairly good list of books about this science, called astrobiology.gImagining - Many problems faced the development of astrobiology as a credible science when it was first named in 1958. The most basic of these problems was skepticism on the part of many scientists of the time. The ideas of astrobiology touched too closely with science fiction to be considered seriously. The idea of life on Mars was definitely science fiction: H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" attested to that. And Gregory Benford and David Brin in “Heart of the Comet” have since addressed the idea of life being seeded on Earth by comets. Why would anyone take these ideas seriously as science? See article.gAftermath - It is sometimes said that the best form of advertising is education. But what products would our global marketplace tolerate at the borders of an encounter with another, perhaps far different civilization? To get some perspective, an expert entertains the question of how to advertise our presence to a more universal demographic. See article. Note: This article came out in November 2004.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Astronomers have directly observed rain on Titan for the first time. Using near-infrared images, they've shown persistent morning drizzle over Titan's major continent, Xanadu. See article.gLife - What makes a handful of chemicals spring to life? By looking at how life started on Earth, astronomers can discover what clues to look for to hunt down life on other planets. See article.gIntelligence - A male dog will whine and beg in deference to a stronger dog, but will lower its voice into a guttural growl if it thinks it has a fighting chance. Men unconsciously do a similar thing, scientists say. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.gMessage - When scientists get together to talk about extraterrestrial life, they certainly don't imagine little green men. In fact, our first contact with life beyond our planet probably will involve a microbe. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.gCosmicus - Book alert: Here’s a neat, fictional post-Apollo, Shuttle-derived lunar architecture as portrayed in Homer Hickam's "Back to the Moon.”gLearning - NASA’s free Astrobiology Education Poster illustrates in words and pictures the fundamental questions addressed by astrobiology: What is life? Where is it? How do you find it? Three activities have been developed to explore these themes. It’s great for teachers — or parents looking to spend some quality time with their children. See article.gImagining - Venus's battery-acid clouds might very well support microbial life - like the "extremophile" microorganisms that Earth scientists have found thriving near volcano outflows. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.gAftermath - An Outside Context Problem or an OCP is any problem outside given organization or society experience, with an immediate, ubiquitous and lasting impact upon an entire culture or civilization — such as first contact with extraterrestrials. See article.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Scientists are drawing unique comparisons between the climate of Saturn's moon Titan and the Earth. Titan has some of the same circulation processes that happen on Earth, only they occur with completely different substances and at much colder temperatures. See article.gLife - Extraterrestrial life is life originating outside of the Earth. It is the subject of astrobiology, and its existence remains theoretical. There is no evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. See article.gIntelligence - Smiles may take a while, but a horrified expression is a sure-fire attention getter, U.S. researchers said on Sunday, based on a study of how fast people process facial expressions. See article.gMessage - Book alert: The father-son team of David E. Fisher and Marshall Jon Fisher brings the study of extraterrestrial life down to earth in “Strangers in the Night: Brief History of Life on Other Worlds,” an informative and entertaining book. In the anecdotal style that is their hallmark, the Fishers trace humankind’s attempts to discover life on other worlds. This informative and entertaining book tells the story of humankind’s attempts throughout history to discover extraterrestrial life. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “Human destiny lies in exploring the galaxy and finding our roots, biologically and chemically, out among the stars.” — Geoffrey W. Marcy and R. Paul ButlergLearning - Americans love science in their movies and TV shows, yet recent reports indicate we are losing our scientific dominance to the rest of the world. Can science-themed entertainment get Americans off the couch and into the lab? See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Murray Leinster’s short story "The Castaway,” published in the June 1953 edition of Universe magazine.gAftermath - The more anthropocentric a person is, the less likely he is to believe that life exists beyond Earth. See article.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Quote of the Day: “Reunite Gondwanaland!” – AnonymousgLife - Think life on Earth is weird? It might be even weirder on distant planets and moons, according to a new report. See article.gMessage - The first 42 radio dishes of the Allen Telescope Array are activated and collecting scientific data from the far reaches of the universe. See article.gLearning - Are we alone? Are humans unique in the universe, or is our existence the natural outcome of universal processes that produced complex life on Earth and elsewhere? As we observe the universe beyond Earth, we find that we are fundamentally a part of it. To understand the relationship of humanity to stardust requires understanding evolution in its broadest sense. See article. Note: This article on teaching evolution in schools is from January 2001.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Richard F. Monteleone and David F. Bischoff’s novel, “Day of the Dragonstar,” published in 1983.gAftermath - How would humans react the day after ET landed? A nationwide survey by the Roper Organization in 1999 found that the following: "... one out of four Americans think most people would "totally freak out and panic" if such evidence were confirmed. See article.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Slushy geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus erupt from fractures clustered around a hot spot at the satellite's south pole, scientists have now confirmed. See article.gLife - Life can be found in almost every nook and cranny of our planet Earth. Leaping, swimming, flying, sprinting, slithering, crawling or rooted firmly in place, organisms appear, die, and are replaced by new generations and new species. Whether a similar bounty of life exists elsewhere in the universe is one of the oldest and most tantalizing questions of science. Considering the wide breadth of the universe and the countless stars it contains, the odds would seem in favor of the answer being "yes." See article.gMessage - We’ve all heard of SETI, bit what about METI — “Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” or sending both scientific and artistic messages to the stars? See article.gCosmicus - Antarctica is the best place on Earth to hunt for meteorites. Scientists have been successfully engaged in the search for decades. But maybe robots could do the job just as well. See article.gLearning - Ken Bain knows a lot about teaching. He learned some of it from 41 years in the classroom, some from the research of fellow scholars - and some from an 18-month-old grandson who was savvy about cell phones. See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Jack McDevitt’s novel, The Hercules Text, published by Ace in 1986.gAftermath - Scientists should pay greater attention to discussing the social implications of discovering extraterrestrial life - even though many researchers shy away from the subject because they don't consider it "hard" science. See article.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Astronomers have found three nearby stars that may hold 'embryonic planets' and could provide a missing link in planet-formation theories. Studying them could help flesh out concepts of how habitable planets form and where to look for them. See article.gLife - Along with oxygen, carbon and water, the organic element adenine is necessary to support life on Earth and U.S. researchers might have found its origin. See article.gIntelligence - Could we be the oldest civilization in the galaxy? See this discussion on the topic.gMessage - The hunt for ET is revving up to warp speed, thanks largely to an infusion of cash from Seattle's most famous science-fiction fan. On Friday, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen joined scientists from SETI — the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — to unveil the first major telescope devoted full time to answering the question: Is anyone out there? See article.gCosmicus - The Coalition for Space Exploration was formed early in 2004 to show industry support for the Vision for Space Exploration. The coalition is a diverse group of companies, nonprofit organizations, trade associations and unions. See article.gLearning - Here’s a neat classroom lesson plan on “The United Nations Treaty for the Exploration and Use of Outer Space”.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Arthur C Clarke’s short story, "Before Eden," published in June 1961’s Amazing.gAftermath - Alien encounters and science fiction permeate pop culture, but what would it really mean if scientists found life beyond Earth? If even a single-celled organism on another planet was discovered, for many, this would be the last thread of evidence proving that life is simply chemistry. Note: This article is from 2003. See article.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - The hit song that proclaimed, "All we are is dust in the wind," may have some cosmic truth to it. New findings from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that space dust - the same stuff that makes up living creatures and planets - was manufactured in large quantities in the winds of black holes that populated our early universe. See article.gAbodes - Astronomers have spotted a star system 424 light-years away where they think an Earth-like planet is likely forming. They've found a belt of warm dust that has enough mass to form a planet the size of Mars or larger. See article.gLife - In view of the substantial challenges ahead in instrumentation and trials on Earth analogs, we must now begin to plan a second generation of feasible evolutionary experiments with whole microorganisms. In those new experiments universal evolutionary biomarkers should be searched for. See article.gMessage - The first episode of “I Love Lucy” was broadcast sometime on Oct. 15, 1951. About 0.0002 seconds later, the signal glided over the rooftops of the farthest city suburbs, and headed into space. It’s still going. Every day, that first installment passes through an additional 4 thousand trillion trillion trillion cubic kilometers of the cosmos. Given that stars in our galactic neighborhood are separated by about 4 light-years, it’s easy to figure that roughly 10 thousand star systems have been exposed to “I Love Lucy” in the past five decades. That may suggest a high Nielson rating, but the chance that extraterrestrials are now hooked on 1950s television is low. See article.gCosmicus - Fifty years ago, science fiction became science fact. On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union, having worked in complete secrecy, launched Sputnik I. Humankind's first man-made satellite, a tiny ball that beeped its presence as it orbited the globe, shocked the world and set in motion a new age. See article.gLearning - A computer program called Second Life provides educators with unique opportunities to connect with students in a virtual landscape – including astrobiology. See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Isaac Asimov’s “The Gods Themselves” (published by Ballentine in 1972).gAftermath - Among scientists involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, it’s quite common to be focused on the future, ever mindful that it could take years, or even decades, to find a signal from otherworldly intelligence. But if historian Steve Dick has his way, astronomers will also turn their attention toward the past as they search for life beyond Earth — to discover the aftereffects of contact between two intelligent cultures. Note: This article is from 2003. See article.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - A chance encounter between the Ulysses spacecraft and Comet McNaught has provided interesting information about the composition of comets. In addition, the observations yielded unique insight into the behavior of the solar wind. See article.gAbodes - Different types of worlds, even ones not like the Earth, can still be potential havens for life. See article.gLife - Some of the elements necessary to support life on Earth are widely known - oxygen, carbon and water, to name a few. Just as important in the existence of life as any other component is the presence of adenine, an essential organic molecule. Without it, the basic building blocks of life would not come together. Scientists have been trying to find the origin of Earth's adenine and where else it might exist in the solar system. University of Missouri-Columbia researcher Rainer Glaser may have the answer. See article.gMessage - Extraterrestrial civilizations may find it more efficient to communicate by sending material objects across interstellar distances rather than beams of electromagnetic radiation. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.gCosmicus - Aussie scientists have called on their federal government to provide $100 million over 10 years to help launch an Australian space program. See article.gLearning - Here’s a good introduction to learning about the characteristics of living things is to get the kids brainstorming as to what makes a living thing living: “Glue Critters.” See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “Expedition to Earth,” published by Ballantine in 1953.gAftermath - Here’s an intriguing entry from the “Interdisciplinary Encyclopeadia of Religion and Science”: “Extraterrestrial Life.” It discusses the consequences of alien contact from a Catholic perspective. See article.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - The type of star providing sunshine may affect the color of an alien world's equivalent of bushes, trees, and grass. See article.gAbodes - If minerals deep in the Earth's mantle were not able to store oxygen, there might not be life on our planet's surface. New research results provide insight into how the subsurface of our planet helps maintain the Earth's habitability. See article.gLife - Hot vents deep in the ocean harbor thousands of previously unknown microorganisms, scientists report. See article.gMessage - Looking for life elsewhere is a tough task for human or robot. The good news is that the scientific skill and tools to search for, detect and inspect extraterrestrial life are advancing rapidly. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.gCosmicus - In the 1990s, scientists coined the term "astrobiology" to refer to the study of life in space. During a 2003 radio broadcast of Earth and Sky, scientist Bruce Runnegar discussed the goals of this fascinating field. See article.gLearning - Students begin school with strong natural interests in science and the world around them. However, for many, those interests noticeably decline - as do test scores - by the time they reach high school. On the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress science test, 68 percent of the nation's fourth graders, 59 percent of eighth graders, and only 54 percent of 12th graders scored at or above the Basic achievement level. To help educators encourage and sustain students' interests in science, Sally Ride Science announces its new Classroom Sets, ready-made science content to complement existing classroom instruction in upper elementary and middle school classrooms.gImagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Harlan Ellison’s (ed.) “Medea: Harlan's World” (1985), a symposium on alien creation.gAftermath - Here’s an interesting book for some astrobiological reading: “After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life” by Albert A. Harrison.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - In the Star Wars movies fictional planets are covered with forests, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes. But new models from a team of MIT, NASA, and Carnegie scientists begin to describe an even wider range of Earth-size planets that astronomers might actually be able to find in the near future. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “…ask you children, and they will respond with shouts of joy! They will not demand gold or silver, or all the profits that we’re speaking of on a practical level – they want the joy of going to space.” – Ray BradburygLearning - Here’s a neat interactive Web site for kids: “Are Humans All Alone in the Universe?” In the program, kids get to search for ET — and learn some principles of science along the way. See article.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read David Bischoff’s "The Xaxrling of J. Arnold Boysenberry," anthologized in “First Contact,” edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Larry Segriff (published by DAW, 1997).

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - An international team of astronomers that includes Steve Kawaler of Iowa State University has announced the first discovery of a planet orbiting a star near the end of its life. The announcement, culminating seven years of research, will be published in the Sept. 13 issue of the journal Nature. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “We embark on this quest not from a simple desire but from a mandate of our species to search for our place in the cosmos.” — Neil De Grasse TysongLearning - Here’s something neat for kids: Ask an Astrobiologist: NASA's Astrobiology Institute Website lists on-line questions and responses on astrobiology; gives profiles of eminent astrobiologists. See article.gImagining - An impressive listing of “Star Trek” aliens exists at “Star Trek Aliens”. Of course, most “Star Trek” aliens either are just humanoid (an unlikely scenario, though the series did explain it away by saying a previous humanoid race “seeded” worlds with their DNA) are incorporeal. Still, the series did offer some intriguing species — most notably the horta, tribble and Species 8472 — merit attention.gAftermath - How to predict reactions to receipt of evidence for an otherworldly intelligence? Some scientists argue that any unpredictable outcomes can only be judged against our own history. See article.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - Wobbles on Mars cause ice ages that are much more dramatic than those on Earth, says astronomer Norbert Schorghofer of the University of Hawaii. See article.gCosmicus - By using unique balloons to study the atmosphere and surface of Venus, scientists are hoping to learn more about climate change on Earth. A team of engineers recently tested a prototype of one such balloon. See article.gLearning - What is an astrobiologist, and can you become one? See article.gImagining - How common are other civilizations in the universe? This question has fascinated humanity for centuries, and although we still have no definitive answer, a number of recent developments have brought it once again to the fore. Chief among these is the confirmation - after a long wait and several false starts - that planets exist outside our solar system. See article. My apologies in advance for the Web site that I found this otherwise credible article on.gAftermath - How will humanity react when we receive our first interstellar phone call from ET? Though not a new piece, SETI astronomer Seth Shostak offers some intriguing thoughts.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is examining features on Mars that address the role of water in the planet's past. If liquid water was ever present, Mars may have been a habitable environment for life. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar WildegLearning - The challenge to communicate both the breadth and depth of astrobiology is discussed by Carol Oliver, of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology. As a researcher in communicating science, she considers how best to tell a busy public what it means to explore other worlds for signs of life elsewhere. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.gImagining - An early “Star Trek” alien is the Exo III android makers. We really don’t know what the android creators (aka “the Old Ones”) looked like, but we can presume by the way human duplicates were created with the android-making machine that they appear like Ruk. See article.gAftermath - The statement that extraterrestrial intelligence exists or doesn’t can have the parallel statement that God exists or doesn’t. Some people say there’s already sufficient evidence of existence for both. If you set aside abductions and miracles, it’s true that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence for either. However, if and when humanity ever detects evidence of an extraterrestrial intelligence, it will break the symmetry of these two statements and, in fact, that evidence will be inconsistent with the existence of God or at least organized religions. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gAbodes - U.S. scientists have developed a model of Earth-size planets that astronomers might discover in the near future. See article.gMessage - How might we detect an extraterrestrial messenger probe already in the solar system? See article. Note: This article is from 1983.gCosmicus - ESA is developing a new mission to study an asteroid up close, and maybe even change its trajectory. The mission could yield clues about how we could prepare for a dangerous, Earth-bound asteroid if one is ever discovered. See article.gLearning - Kurt Fischer and his colleagues looked at the revolution in brain scanning, genetics, and other biological technologies and decided that most teachers and students weren’t getting much benefit from them. Brain scans are now available to watch what’s going on when someone is learning — or not learning. Finding genes that are involved in learning disabilities is a hot area. Why, they asked, aren’t the powers of such technologies helping teachers in classrooms? See article.gImagining - The questions of what alien life will be like is a more than just an issue for science fiction enthusiasts. For those involved with the fledging science of astrobiology, this is a central issue: After all, if something is life “not as we know it,” how, in fact, would we know it to be life at all? See article.gAftermath - Book alert: As many Earthlings already know —including more than 2 million computer users with firsthand experience — our best hope for finding extraterrestrial intelligence might just lie with an ingenious little screensaver. So it's not surprising that Brian McConnell’s “Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations,” an introduction to searching for and communicating with intelligent life, begins with some of the details behind the University of California-Berkeley's groundbreaking, massively distributed SETI@home project, which processes intergalactic noise for pennies on the teraflop. But that's just the start of the story. Inventor and software developer McConnell continues with an overview of whether and why we might find something out there, who's doing what to look for it (including the folks at Berkeley), and — once some ET picks up on the other end — what we might say and how we might say it.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - Some of the universe's first stars might still be lighting up their corners of the cosmos, new computer models suggest. And finding these stellar oldies could reveal something about the nature of dark matter. See article.gAbodes - What are the lines of evidence that indicate whether an extrasolar planet is able to support life? See article.gIntelligence - On what started as a normal Saturday night one week ago, residents of a small, remote Peruvian town saw a bright light streak across the sky, heard a resounding bang and suddenly found themselves at the center of a media frenzy. See article.gCosmicus - Quote of the Day: “Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - Sarah WilliamsgLearning - How are key concepts of astrobiology treated in science fiction? See article. Note: This article is from 2001 and intended to be used as part of a classroom lesson.gImagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read C.M. Kornbluth’s short story "The Silly Season," originally published in F&SF (Fall 1950).gAftermath - How would proof of extraterrestrial intelligence affect humanity’s “world” view? Astronomer Steve Dick discusses the matter in this transcribed Smithsonian Institute lecture, from 1999.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:gStars - Astronomers have found evidence that stars have been forming in a long tail of gas that extends well outside its parent galaxy. This discovery suggests that such "orphan" stars may be much more prevalent than previously thought. See article.gAbodes - NASA spacecraft have detected entrances to seven possible caves near a Martian volcano, increasing interest in that planet's possible underground habitats. See article.gMessage - Is it more likely for an advanced civilization to resort to some sophisticated encoding scheme than we would? See article.gCosmicus - The reentry capsule for the Foton-M3 spacecraft, which has been in low-Earth orbit for the last 12 days, successfully landed Sept. 26. See article.gLearning - Here’s a neat classroom activity that examines if yeast, a common yet tenacious microbe, can survive boiling water, salt, UV radiation and citric acid? Students find out for themselves by creating "Planets in a Bottle" which illustrate extreme conditions on other worlds. See article.gImagining - Are there any alternatives to DNA or RNA, as an “X-Files” episode said there was? See article.gAftermath - How might explorers determine what happened to an extinct alien race based on the clues they left behind on their home planet? See article.
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About Me

I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.